Auston Matthews Injured: Leafs Nation Holds Its Breath
In last night’s game against the Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs C Auston Matthews was injured and had to leave the game.
For the Toronto Maple Leafs, the season hangs in the balance.
Too dramatic? Sue me. The Leafs have been garbage for like ten or 15 years, and this is the first year in what seems like forever where expectations are both high and realistic. But without Matthews, the Leafs are barely a playoff team.
Yeah their record without Matthews is actually pretty good, but it’s a total fluke. The Leafs non-Matthews record is about as good a prognosticator for a Matthewsless future as a groundhog is at predicting the weather. You’ve never been stabbed before? Maybe you’re not allergic to knives. Could be. But most likely, when something is too good to be true, it is. And without Matthews the Leafs are not good.
Watching that, it appears to be a shoulder injury. Maybe he was taken out of the game for precautionary reasons. Maybe he’s out for the year. Hopefully not.
William Nylander is lining up at centre today with Auston Matthews sitting out practice:
— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) February 23, 2018
Marleau-Kadri-Marner
Hyman-Nylander-Brown
van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Kapanen
Leivo/Martin-Moore-Komarov
If there is any good to take out of this, it’s that Nylander is playing centre. Nylander should be playing centre all the time. Matthews, Nylander, Kadri down the middle is insane and probably the best in the league. I’d like to see it permanently.
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Auston Matthews This Year
Auston Matthews is the Leafs best player. So far this year, he’s missed ten games, during two different injury spells, and yet he’s still posting some of the best stats in the NHL.
Matthews is tied for the NHL lead in 5v5 goals. He’s 6th in 5v5 points. And he’s done this while missing ten games, and playing mostly with Nylander (half season slump) and Hyman (not a great goal scorer). The wingers have let Matthews down somewhat, as he only has five secondary assists, whereas McDavid and Kucherov have 14 and 12, respectively. Secondary assists are seen as a function of luck, more than skill.
Matthews leads the NHL in 5v5 goals per minute, and is sixth in 5v5 points per minute. He doesn’t play on the PP as much as other players of his caliber so it’s unfair to compare his total points and goals to other players.
As should be clear, if Matthews line-mates weren’t either bad or unlucky for part of the year, if he’d be healthy, and gotten more power-play time, he would for sure be leading the league in total goals, and he’s be challenging for the Art Ross and Hart trophies.
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It’s quite apparent that Matthews is one of the top two or three players in the NHL, and his being healthy is the difference between the Leafs being Cup Competitors and just another team.
Hopefully he is not out for long.
stats from naturalstattrick.com